The Crocodile: A Neverland Story
by Lady Two-Bit
Summary: This is not my story! The Crocodile remembers that she is Ammut, the Egyptian devourer of souls, and she wants Captain Hook. Hook/Crocodile Ammut Warning Sexual Content in latter chapters


The Crocodile: A Neverland Story

By EgyptianGoddess

Chapter 1  
In Neverland she was known simply as, The Croc, the beast that had consumed the hand of Captain Hook when tossed to her by Peter Pan. She had inhabited the warm waters of Neverland for centuries, neh millennia. A dangerous reptilian predator and a creature to be feared and respected. But deep in the recesses of her time fogged mind she remembered when she had been much more and had been feared not in this life but the one that follows mortal existence. In the hearts of all men was the fear that some day, when it came their time to journey through Duat, they would face her and be found lacking. Anubis weighed the hearts of the dead against the feather of Ma'at, and those found heavy with sin came her way. She was The Devourer, Eater of Hearts. She was Ammut. The bringer of the final death, the death of the soul.  
But that was long ago in a world that no longer existed. The hearts of Men have forgotten the old ways and with them the old gods. Lost in the mist of time are the memories of the once great deities, Ra, Osiris, Isis, and Anubis. They are worshipped no more. The knowledge of Ammut and her once sacred duty lost from the minds of Men.  
Now she was simply, The Croc. Neverland was as good a home as any. It was a place for forgetting and the River Nile remained nothing more than a faded memory.

The great reptile awoke from her slumber on the riverbed and with a languid sweep of her tail rose to the surface. A scaly nose and two yellow eyes were all she allowed to peak into the air. Something was different. Neverland seemed the same; schools of fish swam below her, birdsong emanated from everywhere, the sky bright and sunny above. And yet…something was missing. And then it came to her. The tick, tick, ticking of the clock in her tummy was gone. The sound that had dogged her everywhere had ceased, the mechanical device silent at last. As realization dawned on her, she smiled inwardly. Stealth was hers again. And she was hungry.

Still and silent as a log she waited. A widening of the river and slowing of its waters into a pool drew the thirsty. A deer approached the water's edge, glancing nervously about it. Cautiously it came closer, and took a few tentative steps into the still pool now only inches from the floating crocodile. Finally assured of its safety the deer lowered its head to drink. The water erupted in spray and foam as the crocodile launched herself at the hapless deer. Her toothy jaws snapping closed upon its head and neck. The deer fought back, lashing out with hooves but the vice-like grip remained unshaken. The crocodile threw all her weight into a full body twist that snapped the deer's neck.

Her belly full and satisfied, the reptile hauled herself onto a warm rock. She rested contently under the sun's rays, letting it warm her blood and speed the business of digestion. She slept and in the form of dreams, memories stirred. She floated in the wide river waters…Nile waters….and waited. The ways of patience were her ways and had been since time immemorial. She had stalked the shores just like this innumerable times. When dinosaurs roamed and thundered over the earth, she was there. When they faded from existence and the furry mammals propagated and overtook, she was there. When the first men-like creatures appeared she was there. She, a silent observer of the eons, watched as these strange creatures elevated themselves to a dominant position in the world faster than any species ever had. With their hands they reshaped this world and with their minds they molded and shaped the spiritual realm as well. Fuelled by the influence of Men, these "other" realms coalesced and condensed, order was instituted, powerful animal spirits were recruited, deities arose. Feared in the mortal existence as a deadly predator, she was elevated in the spiritual realm to the eater of souls.  
Her name floated up from the depths of memory…Neverland's grip on her was loosening…her name was…her name was Ammut.  
The crocodile awoke on her rock and she remembered. Her dream did not slip away as it always had before. She remembered.

The pirates heard the splash and the deer's scream just before they all turned and saw the gruesome scene at the water's edge. They had watched with morbid fascination as the crocodile devoured her prey, and shuttered at the thought that they themselves had been about to enter those very waters that now ran red with blood.  
"But what happened to the clock…the ticking…"sputtered Billy Jukes.  
"I didn't hear the ticking. Did anybody hear it?" questioned Mullins. No one had.  
"Maybe it's a different Croc," postulated Starkey. Yes, yes they agreed, a different Croc. That had to be it.  
"No," said their Captain, who until this moment had not spoken. His face was grave. "I'd know her anywhere. She's the same Croc. The clock in her belly has finally run down."

Deciding to take his crew back to the ship as hastily as possible, Captain Hook had taken the lead position himself and began hacking a path through the jungle. Smee watched his Captain's back as he furiously swung his sword at the underbrush with more force than the job required. Smee knew his Captain and though Hook would never show it to his crew, Smee knew that Hook was terrified.  
Behind him, the sailor's jabbered on, "So the ticking is gone for good?" "…no warning anymore…" "…she could be upon us before we knew what hit us…" "We're sitting ducks!" "…and we all know who she's going to be come'in for first…"  
With that last comment, Smee spun around, "Enough," he whispered forcefully, "the Captain don't need to be hearing this!" They all hung their heads like chastised children at Smee's admonition. But Hook trudged on seemingly unconcerned, focusing all his fear and anger into the swinging of his sword. His crew hurried to keep up.


End file.
